The Media, Fake News, Fox, CNN, MSNBC and any other media outlets, Trust No One

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Hah, I like that their attempt to smear WaPo as "fake news" has completely backfired and instead the paper's reputation has been strengthened by this. Everyone's like "Wow, this really shows that WaPo is the real deal." lol

Eh, I wouldn't be so sure. I tend to think there are three groups of people when it comes to media literacy:

1) People smart enough to recognize good and well-researched journalism (they already knew WaPo was legit)
2) People who just don't give a shit either way (they're not even reading this story)
3) People who would believe that this story is itself a planted piece against conservatives, funded by a liberal version of Project Veritas, and of course aren't even reading the story because it's on the Fake Washington Post.

3) People who would believe that this story is itself a planted piece against conservatives, funded by a liberal version of Project Veritas

Hmmm, okay, but what if this so-called "liberal version of Project Veritas" is ACTUALLY a conservative group PRETENDING to be this liberal group so that they can then pretend to be "exposed" as a gang of schemers who posed as Project Veritas in an effort to make Project Veritas look bad. Think about it.

Hmmm, okay, but what if this so-called "liberal version of Project Veritas" is ACTUALLY a conservative group PRETENDING to be this liberal group so that they can then pretend to be "exposed" as a gang of schemers who posed as Project Veritas in an effort to make Project Veritas look bad. Think about it.

Eh, I wouldn't be so sure. I tend to think there are three groups of people when it comes to media literacy:

1) People smart enough to recognize good and well-researched journalism (they already knew WaPo was legit)
2) People who just don't give a shit either way (they're not even reading this story)
3) People who would believe that this story is itself a planted piece against conservatives, funded by a liberal version of Project Veritas, and of course aren't even reading the story because it's on the Fake Washington Post.

Group Three scares the shit out of me. Group Two just makes me sad.

O'Keeffe should be in jail hackers have been imprisoned for less instigation is not free speach!
-Louie

A friend of mine linked me to a video rant about shitty modern art. I guess it was some Breitbart talking head. Now, every recommended video on YouTube is something like "SJW has major meltdown!!!" or "male student DESTROYS feminist teacher with facts!!!"

I generally find YouTube pretty good for the most part, but then i have used it for years and found the channels i enjoy and that make decent content, i rarely check out other channels anymore, especially ones recommended by the algorithm! The only time i'll look for new channels is if the ones i watch recommend them personally. There's really some great content there...but it's almost buried but the trash these days (today's news headliner is a prime example of the shit some fucks on there get away with on there, and doesn't reflect all the good people)

I certainly do. Can't stand her. I don't care for much of the people on CNN anyway.

I miss the good ol days of news where it wasn't too biased and filled with so many opinion commentators. Journalism is becoming more TMZ than anything factual. Most of the journalists I liked are dead or retired (Jennings, Koppel, Mike Wallace). I wanted to be a journalist growing up because of them, but now I'm glad I didn't pursue that field as a career choice.

A friend of mine linked me to a video rant about shitty modern art. I guess it was some Breitbart talking head. Now, every recommended video on YouTube is something like "SJW has major meltdown!!!" or "male student DESTROYS feminist teacher with facts!!!"

A friend of mine linked me to a video rant about shitty modern art. I guess it was some Breitbart talking head. Now, every recommended video on YouTube is something like "SJW has major meltdown!!!" or "male student DESTROYS feminist teacher with facts!!!"

I don't watch youtube while signed in and regularly clear my browsing history, and I STILL get those kind of right wing hate videos recommended. You can watch any video on a brand new system and the suggested videos will be a combination of teen influencer garbage and right wing hate videos. Youtube pushes them HARD for some reason.

^Engadget I think had an article where researchers are blaming YT for the rise in flat earthers. Granted they only interviewed 30 people I really want to believe that people are more critical than that but judging from the trends I've noticed i would not be surprised.

So I watched Rogan w/ Tim Poole(?) and his comments relating to journalists humping twitter got me thinking, is Twitter becoming main source of news material these days? I've noticed it myself when I go pursuing news/articles online recently, last couple years probably. It seems most of the time it references some sort of he said/she said this on twitter. I only ask as I'm still generally living in a hole without actual internets and have been for like 8 years or so.

I was honestly toying with the idea of starting a twitter just for the sake of trolling people but i doubt I'll ever get around to it as even though i spend a lot of time staring at my walls and or reading in my free time, i feel that is still a better use of my time than joining in the mass hysteria that seems to be sweeping the nation.

I don't watch youtube while signed in and regularly clear my browsing history, and I STILL get those kind of right wing hate videos recommended. You can watch any video on a brand new system and the suggested videos will be a combination of teen influencer garbage and right wing hate videos. Youtube pushes them HARD for some reason.

I view them in incognito mode and even then they still appear in my feed. Google knows who you are regardless.

I think, and this is just me, that Google is pushing all these right wing and flat earth video's because they are popular with people who are either stupid and believe them or people who want to argue how wrong they are. People from all walks of life are watching, commenting and sharing in mass either as someone that believes them, want to laugh about how stupid they are or merely want to remind people how fucked the human race is which in YT's stupid algorithm says "this is doing great, push it more!"

I think, and this is just me, that Google is pushing all these right wing and flat earth video's because they are popular with people who are either stupid and believe them or people who want to argue how wrong they are. People from all walks of life are watching, commenting and sharing in mass either as someone that believes them, want to laugh about how stupid they are or merely want to remind people how fucked the human race is which in YT's stupid algorithm says "this is doing great, push it more!"

You may be right, but I only hope YT realizes the damage constantly bombarding a future generation with videos like that will do. It makes it seem like more people agree with those videos than actually do, but if children grow up thinking that these things are a mainstream point of contention, they may grow up giving more credence to things like flat earthers. I really don't want to see the internet weaponized by false information and pseudo-science instead of being the source of almost limitless knowledge that it has been until recently. That would really suck.

You may be right, but I only hope YT realizes the damage constantly bombarding a future generation with videos like that will do. It makes it seem like more people agree with those videos than actually do, but if children grow up thinking that these things are a mainstream point of contention, they may grow up giving more credence to things like flat earthers. I really don't want to see the internet weaponized by false information and pseudo-science instead of being the source of almost limitless knowledge that it has been until recently. That would really suck.

its been a breeding ground for misinformation since it was publicly adopted. It’s why your nephew is sure he’s solved the Labyrinth and can’t shut up about how everything is a conspiracy, it’s why your sweet co-worker is suddenly a vehement anti-vaxxer, memes are hilarious high wit, and Donald Trump is president

You mean like one day school's teaching these "different" points of view?

No, more like the students thinking the schools are part of the conspiracy to keep these things from them. Sort of the same way many conservatives feel about college already.

Originally Posted by Jinsai

its been a breeding ground for misinformation since it was publicly adopted. It’s why your nephew is sure he’s solved the Labyrinth and can’t shut up about how everything is a conspiracy, it’s why your sweet co-worker is suddenly a vehement anti-vaxxer, memes are hilarious high wit, and Donald Trump is president

The difference being that before these things had to be sought out, so the people who immersed themselves in them were already crazy. Now they're pushed to everyday people and introduced to impressionable youth early enough to plant a seed. Hopefully people will eventually adapt to it the same way they adapted to chain-emails, but it doesn't currently look like it.

The difference being that before these things had to be sought out, so the people who immersed themselves in them were already crazy. Now they're pushed to everyday people and introduced to impressionable youth early enough to plant a seed. Hopefully people will eventually adapt to it the same way they adapted to chain-emails, but it doesn't currently look like it.

I feel like it's always been pushed on us, though perhaps more subtly. At the bottom of legit news articles are those ads that say things like "Stomach doctors are begging people to throw out this vegetable!" Click bait in general is only a philosophical step away from "if you liked this video on youtube, maybe you'd also wanna watch this shit."

I personally think memes are dumbing us down and newly weaponized as an easy way to influence our beliefs, political and otherwise, through a form of derivative lazy sarcastic humor. If I see a route to flat-earth shit becoming a really accepted belief, it'll get there through sarcastic memes. The anti-vaxx people love their memes, just like conspiracy theorists, etc

It's reaching outside of the online realm now too... you hear younger people saying things OUTLOUD like "oh you got PWNED" and "that awkward moment when..." and "oh? tell me more about..."

I think part of the reason that misinformation is spreading so easily is our understanding of media literacy.

I went to school in the 90s, long before the internet brought misinformation to the forefront. Our misinformation came in the form of tabloids, urban legends, religion and lying politicians.

Religious institutions were telling us that sex before marriage would send us to hell, and our teachers were repeating it. They also said that gay sex was a sin and would somehow destroy the world, and these views were discussed as valid positions in newspapers. Hillary Clinton was adopting alien babies. Bigfoot was secretly a scientist at Area 51. Urban Legends told us that Satanists were all around.

And my parents were convinced that the world was getting way less safe, and so they became way more restrictive about whether or not I could go outside. They moved us to a small town which had nothing to do, and was supposedly safer. And me and my friends talked about how the TV news and the newspapers were reporting on every horrific story, and that we didn't really believe the hysteria that was happening, and believed that these things were always happening, but we were hearing about them more and more.

We also learned in school about bias in writing, and by extension in news reporting. Marilyn Manson was having all kinds of false things said about him after Columbine, which taught us not to trust everything we saw in the news. It was pretty obvious to us back then that the media was biased, and that not everything was as it seemed. George Bush became president shortly thereafter and launched the USA into a war under false pretenses, so it was clear that politicians were lying to us.

Skepticism around any media is well founded, and there has been fake news as long as there has been news. People lie, and people make mistakes. Our society has been primed to believe in conspiracy theories and fake news for a long while. The internet is spreading it, and there's an appetite for it.

As long as there's an appetite for fake news, fake news will find a way to survive. It starts because someone makes something up when the position they want to hold has no basis in reality to be held. It spreads when someone else doesn't want to look at reality.

Can we make reality more appealing to the population in general somehow?

Our news has been edited (censored) for years, too; during Vietnam, we received daily updates of casualties, saw actual combat footage during the nightly news, complete with injuries and bodies. Cut to Iraq, and the Government censors everything claiming security breaches (even if the footage is submitted later) when the reality is that the Government doesn’t want the public to see the realities of war. The actual casualty numbers are covered up, too. This enables them to continue without the public protesting.

But, I'm not sure that people have an "appetite" for "fake" news; I think they don't even KNOW what "kind" of news it is - they just assume it's something they can trust. People assume that if it's coming from a source they "trust," then it's actual "news." They don't even realize that it's biased news, or hyperbolic news, or slanted news, or opinionated news, or news that is designed to appeal to a target audience or to appease corporate sponsors.

My husband has relatives on Facebook who pass around "articles" or "stories" that are - to us, anyway - OBVIOUSLY false. When my husband calls this out, his cousin says "what, am I supposed to LOOK THIS UP TO SEE IF IT'S REAL?"

YES! YES, YOU ARE! With social media and your ability to pass this shit along comes RESPONSIBILITY.

Often, this information is SO obviously fake that you shouldn't even NEED to look it up.

People don't want to have to use their own logic - what my college psych professor called our inner "bullshit bell" - to determine if it's "fake" so long as it aligns with their own predetermined beliefs.

I see headlines that are misleading and people on the left pass them around on Twitter with comments that bolster their own beliefs without even reading the actual article, which article often completely refutes their position.